Sometimes clients really challenge me with a brief so creative (or obscure?!) I feel a momentary wave of panic at how their ideas or thoughts can turn into something, well like an effective logo. An idea, a dream, a vision. All of which can be hard for people to explain and can be even more difficult for me to interpret. It's my job to turn an often loose vision into a solid brand, sometimes delivering exactly what has been visualised, sometimes presenting my own take on it to great applause. All businesses and their owners are different, some needing more guidance than others.

Wedgewood White Limited, a firm in Auckland, consultants in pricing, economic regulation and investment analysis internationally, came to me for new branding, a new website and stationery. What they knew for certain was that they no longer liked their existing logo/brand. What they were less sure of was exactly what they wanted in a new one.

After a few drafts involving graph like backgrounds etc, a loose vision formed and a 'rabbit hole' effect was requested. I think the request was along the lines of "can we twist the graph in the third dimension...?" Like Alice in Wonderland? Like an optical illusion? Help!

I interpreted this a request to illustrate the notion of thinking outside the box, delving deeper, delivering a solution with a twist, and yet with complete expertise. My challenge was to take this idea and carry it into a corporate look. Make it meaningful, clean and simple and with no reference to Alice or the White Rabbit.

What formed was a sort of rabbit hole effect, a box effect if you like, out of the two stylised W's from the business name. A clean design, a new colour, and importantly a relevant logo which still had a twist (or a hole) in it that represented the company perfectly. Happy clients. Happy designer.